The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care is pleased to share with you that the Centre for Effective Practice in partnership with the Ontario College of Family Physicians have developed a Preconception Tool as a part of the Healthy Kids Strategy.

The tool is intended to support primary care providers in discussions of health promotion and illness prevention strategies with all patients of reproductive age.

Did you know that 25% of school-age children have a vision problem? Yet only 10% of kids under age 4 have had an eye examination. The Ontario Association of Optometrists, with funding from the Ministry of Health, is offering a very cool, very FREE childhood eye health and vision awareness program. The program offers free eye exams (covered by OHIP) and, if needed, FREE eyeglasses to students in Junior Kindergarten.

To learn more about the 'Eye See...Eye Learn' program, visit www.optom.on.ca/OAO/ESEL/AboutESEL.aspx.

Catholic Education Week is being celebrated from May 3 to 8, 2015 with the theme of Exploring Paths of Joy. Even though the event is still two months away, the Ontario resource package has recently been sent out to provide optimal planning time for educators.

The week is an opportunity to celebrate the many accomplishments of Catholic education - and to deepen the relationship with Catholic educational partners.

The Minister of Education, the Honourable Liz Sandals, visited the Board of Directors at their meeting in January. We at OAPCE were impressed with the presentation and the Minister’s honesty and direct approach. She shared the great successes of the education system in Ontario to date, as well as the goals and strategies in place.

Her presentation on the Physical and Health Education Curriculum explained the rationale for the curriculum which is based on facts, facts from the World Health Organization that now require us to revamp the 5 w’s of our curriculum. The Ministry certainly obtained input from a vast amount of parents, students, and all other stakeholders, across the province. They also consulted with experts and put much time, reflection, and analysis into the process of revising this Curriculum that would be appropriate for all students across the province, across all four Education Systems. When we speak of children, we know that lack of knowledge often leads to engaging in questionable behavior. Let’s remember that the same goes for adults. Remember also the challenge the Ministry has to consider all backgrounds, faiths, traditions and values. This is a massive feat.

We must also remember that Archbishop Collins has discussed the proposed changes to this curriculum to all clergy. They have advised us that once they get a full look at the proposed curriculum and amend, edit, and adapt so as to be consistent to Catholic teaching, they will submit back to the Ministry of Education. This Catholic curriculum will then be implemented in our schools.

Many parents across the province are speaking out very vocally about what they think this curriculum addresses, but they are doing so without the rationale or the correct knowledge (the curriculum has not been released yet, so how can they possibly know). Hopefully we can, now armed with the facts, be better able to address those concerns if we are approached in our regions.

ALSO, please pass on the tip about PRO Grants for 2015/2016: engaging parents/students in math activities to help break down some barriers, and change the perception of math.

Provincial highlights of the Assessments of Reading, Writing and Mathematics, Primary Division and Junior Division, the Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics and the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test for 2014 have been released on our Web site, www.eqao.com. All related public release materials are available through this link.

On September 17, EQAO will release individual reports for each elementary school and its board, as well as a full provincial report on the elementary school assessments.

On September 24, school and board reports will be released for the Grade 9 Assessment of Mathematics as well as for the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test. A full provincial report on the secondary school assessments will also be released on this date.

These results will also be accessible on these dates through the above link.

I’m pleased to introduce you to the start of “EQAO Online,” our new, exciting, multi-year project moving EQAO’s student assessments from paper and pencil to computer.

Like so many other areas in life, technology has opened up new opportunities for different, more sophisticated, more engaging student assessments. This move will bring EQAO’s provincial assessments in line with the digital world we live in and the digital classroom that plays an increasing part in education.

The first assessment we are working to offer online is the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT), written by students in Grade 10. The current 2014–2015 school year will be a year of consultation, research, analyses, field tests and trial runs. If all goes as planned, the first students to have an opportunity to write the OSSLT online will be those scheduled to write it in the 2015‑2016 school year. Paper versions of the test will remain available for schools that are not equipped to participate online.

We have dedicated a section on our Web site www.eqao.com as the central location for all information related to this project, and we will be providing regular updates as we go along. I invite you to use the subscription feature on that page, also found in the footer of this message, to subscribe to receive updates on our move to computer-based assessments.

I look forward to working in partnership with you on this exciting journey toward the future of student assessment in Ontario.

OAPCE

We shall support the preservation and enhancement of the highest quality publicly funded English Catholic Education in Ontario, enabling all our children to become contributing members of the Church, School, Home and Society in accordance with the Catholic Faith.